Rick Ross Reveals Snoop Dogg As An Inspiration For "Mastermind," Talks Working With Kanye West

When Rick Ross sat down for CRWN with Elliot Wilson, he talked at length about numerous subjects, notably touching on the inspiration he drew from Snoop for "Mastermind" and his decade-long working relationship with Kanye West.

Rick Ross swung by CRWN and conducted a lengthy conversation with the host, Elliot Wilson, their topics ranging from Mastermind to Kanye, and we learned a great deal about the Rozay and his music. For example, Rozay claims that Snoop Dogg actually inspired his most recent effort, as Ross was aiming for a chill, 90's vibe with the record, eventually getting Snoop in as a producer. On the subject, Ross said:

“That was the era of the best classics. You know, in the game. From what Dr. Dre was doing on the West Coast to what Diddy was doing on the East and everything in between. So, when I put this album together it’s like when I sat back and I listened to The Chronic and I listened to Doggystyle. I realized every one of Snoop’s records had something in between the record. Not one record just, you know, went from beat to beat…Whatever it was it just added that other side of entertainment and that other side of energy to the product and helped an artist paint that picture, so that’s what I wanted to do.”

But still, part of Ross was inspired to make a serious, hard-hitting album. When asked why he included topics of streetlife and whatnot, Ross responded:

“Because it’s so relevant. I mean, it’s so relevant today,” he said. “You know what I mean? Where I come from it’s just so relevant. A lot of times I say different things in my music and hopefully it might save a young mothafucka life. On some real shit. From inspiration to just understanding the casualties of this. It’s a lot of highs and lows in this game. You know, which is very familiar in that street life, so that’s what I bring to my music. The highs and the lows.”

Ross also spared more than a few words for Kanye, saying "I could kind of see he's an arrogant nigga like I am, you gotta love that shit." He even reveals that Kanye was originally going to produce for Ross, before he suffered from the automobile accident that inspired the song, "Through The Wire." Rozay said,

"We had actually discussed that. It may have been three weeks before he was in an auto[mobile] accident when we discussed that."

We can chalk that up to bad luck. You can watch both parts of this extensive interview below.